Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said conversations with dissatisfied MPs from opposition parties continue, just one day after his party secured its fourth floor crosser in recent months. “I think very much so,” he told reporters on his way into a cabinet meeting on Thursday, in response to a question about whether his party is talking to more MPs. “I...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is again heading overseas, this time to Norway to observe NATO Cold Response exercises as Canada deepens ties with Nordic countries. He will stop first in Yellowknife on Thursday. "In this time of global uncertainty, it's really important that we strengthen the co-operation with Canada, with Norway and with the Nordic countries together," Norwegian Ambassador to...
In the fall of 2024, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, held a commanding lead in the polls and looked set to be the next prime minister. After Donald Trump’s election that November, allies of Poilievre advised him to visit Washington and show he could engage with Trump. Poilievre refused, insisting that cost-of-living politics mattered more. It was...
The three federal by-elections that will happen in April are going to be consequential. They’ll determine whether the federal Liberal caucus will have enough members to carry votes in the House of Commons without relying on support from other parties.
With the latest floor crossing, Mark Carney has established himself as the prime minister who’s convinced the most opposition MPs to join the governing party since Jean Chretien nearly three decades ago. First it was Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont in November. Then, Conservative MP Michael Ma in December, both citing the need for unity and a desire to work with...
NDP MP Lori Idlout became the fourth MP to cross the floor to the governing Liberals during the 45th Parliament, adding more fuel to the debate about the politically controversial practice. NDP interim leader Don Davies said his party believes floor crossers like Idlout should have to “put that decision to the voters”, and most Canadians appear to agree.
When we last reported on the Carney government’s seven national priorities, the story was largely about early alignment. Canadians broadly agreed with the direction of the agenda, but were reserving judgment on delivery. The government had set clear goals. The public was waiting to see results. Now, roughly one year into Mark Carney’s leadership, that early period of orientation is...
The Liberal government has tabled revised “lawful access” legislation, seeking to give police new powers to access digital evidence in what federal officials say is an effort to keep pace with technological and judicial advancements. The version tabled Thursday by Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree is a second attempt at advancing legislation of this kind in this Parliament, after the...
The Trump administration launched trade investigations of multiple countries Wednesday in an attempt to solidify the president's tariff policies after the Supreme Court struck down his previous efforts to realign global trade. Canada was not included in the list of countries targeted by President Donald Trump's investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Mexico is on the...
Monday is the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Smith is probably the best-known and least-read economist, which explains why he is so often misunderstood. For example, if you google “Father of Capitalism,” Smith’s name pops up, but neither his Wealth of Nations nor The Theory of Moral Sentiments uses the word “capitalism.” He did not preach the...
The three federal by-elections that will happen in April are going to be consequential. They’ll determine whether the federal Liberal caucus will have enough members to carry votes in the House of Commons without relying on support from other parties.
After Nunavut MP Lori Idlout announced Tuesday night that she would join the Liberals, a grim-looking Don Davies — interim leader of the NDP — had the dreary task of responding. “The position of the New Democratic Party is long-standing and clear,” he said, accurately. “To us, the decision of the voters at the ballot box is a sacred trust...
Pierre Poilievre recently declared that he would prefer not to have an election anytime soon. The Conservative leader may be in the process of getting that wish. Thanks to another floor-crossing over to the Liberals and three byelections now under way, Mark Carney may have the 172 seats he needs for a majority government, possibly plus one additional MP.
With polling numbers showing support for the governing Liberals approaching numbers not seen since Brian Mulroney’s “grand coalition” win in 1984, it is only natural for Prime Minister Carney’s entourage to begin feeling brave about converting those numbers into a snap election sweep. Some in Liberal circles will argue that the moment has arrived to strike while the iron is...
It wasn’t that long ago that the federal NDP held the balance of political power in Canada. Now, it looks like it will be lucky to hold onto any political power at all. The defection by Nunavut MP Lori Idlout leaves them with just six federal MPs, and that’s without accounting for Alexandre Boulerice’s widely rumoured move to provincial politics...
That the riding of Terrebonne is at all competitive tells you a lot about Quebec’s shifting political landscape in the Mark Carney era. Until last year, the suburban riding on Montreal’s Rive-Nord had been a Bloc Québécois stronghold for three decades, with the exception of a one-term flirtation with the New Democratic Party in the ephemeral Orange Wave of 2011...
By luring now-former NDP Lori Idlout across the floor to join the Liberal caucus, Prime Minister Mark Carney has brought his Liberals up to 170. With three byelections pending, two of which are in reliably safe Liberal seats and the third a Liberal-Bloc tossup, the Liberals seem set to achieve a bare minimum majority in the near future, almost a...
It has felt like a constant stream of floor crossers for months. But this was the big one. Nunavut MP Lori Idlout’s move to defect from the depleted New Democrats to the governing Liberals has put Prime Minister Mark Carney firmly in charge of the political calendar – and weakened two of his opponents with one blow. The most obvious...
In wartime, U.S. presidents usually stay in the background. Not Donald Trump on Iran. One minute he’s saying the war will soon be over; the next, he’s saying it won’t. He’s posting endlessly on Truth Social, doing press conferences, scrums, taking calls from individual reporters, giving marathon speeches. He’s the President who never shuts up. He’s turned the Oval Office...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s imminent majority government is a good thing for the country, according to a 43 per cent plurality of Canadians in a new Angus Reid Institute poll who prefer increased stability (versus 39 per cent who said it flouts the 2025 election result.) The decision by the NDP MP for Nunavut, Lori Idlout, to cross the floor...
Liberals are on the verge of completing a historic achievement. If or when Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals succeed in cobbling together a majority in the House of Commons, it will surely be one of the most unique majorities in Canadian political history — cobbled together from 166 MPs elected as Liberals last spring, at least four floor-crossers and perhaps...
The Liberals are most likely to win all three byelections, which would give then a slight cushion with a two-seat majority. Mark Carney moved one step closer to a majority government overnight as another MP crossed the floor to join the Liberals. This time it was a New Democrat, not a Conservative, who decided to join as Nunavut MP Lori...
Mark Carney’s majority dreams are in the hands of the normally separatist voters of Terrebonne, a suburban community north of Montreal. Carney won 169 of 343 seats in the House of Commons on election night last April, just three short of the 171 he needs to govern with full control of the chamber. Since then, he has lured three Conservative...
It has been less than two weeks since the joint US/Israeli bombing campaign on Iran began. It is past time to bring it to a quick conclusion. Conflicting messages abound: “unconditional surrender” and “the war is very complete” from Donald Trump, and “not a single drop of oil will leave the region” from Iran. There is now clear evidence, from...
In recent days, it’s been as rare to find Prime Minister Mark Carney in Parliament as it is to spot the elusive boreal owl in the woods around Ottawa. A nine-day foreign trip, on top of a prior mission to China, plus breaks in the parliamentary schedule, and important prime ministerial business have all kept him from the House of...
The prime minister has been flying all over the world lately, doing his best to drum up new business opportunities for Canada. No criticism there. It’s a huge part of how Canada will adapt to this strange new global order, and he’s probably better suited to it than most. But let’s not miss out on chances to find new opportunities...
Jean Chrétien’s fondest moment as prime minister was his refusal in 2003 to join the United States-led attack on Iraq. The decision, taken after all-night deliberations, spared Canada from participation in then-U.S. president George W. Bush’s ill-fated mission based on false claims that then-Iraq leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Has the war in Iran torpedoed a federal election in Canada? Just two weeks ago, speculation abounded that Prime Minister Mark Carney might call a vote to capitalize on sky-high polling numbers and his desire for a majority mandate. But 10 days into Operation Epic Fury, the likelihood of Canadians going to the polls this spring has radically diminished. The...
This past week, a New York Times columnist argued that a Canadian-led change to norms of international governance called Responsibility to Protect was now a “weak spot” that risks being exploited by today’s aggressors. The Responsibility to Protect was described by historian Martin Gilbert as “the most significant adjustment to sovereignty in 360 years.” It holds that when a government...
After avoiding the media for several days during the India leg of his 10-day international trade trip, Prime Minister Mark Carney finally addressed the media and spoke to the controversy caused by the unnamed Privy Council Office official who erroneously claimed India was no longer involved in foreign interference or transnational repression in Canada. During the back and forth with...
Mark Carney repeatedly says he is prime minister of a new government, not simply a continuation of Justin Trudeau’s decade leading Liberals in power. New polling from the Pollara Strategic Insights firm suggests that more Canadians are buying the “new” title than those who don’t, especially among those who voted Liberal last year. Pollara shared the results exclusively with the...
It is progress that the Prime Minister’s Office is now letting Canadians know when Mark Carney speaks with President Donald Trump, but it would be much better if the read-out that followed didn’t subtract from the sum of human knowledge.
On March 9, the Honourable Wayne Long, Secretary of State for Financial Institutions, tabled the certificate of nomination in the House of Commons to ask members of Parliament to approve Annette Ryan as the next Parliamentary Budget Officer of Canada. Ms. Ryan, who currently serves as a deputy director at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, or Fintrac, is...
Three Toronto-area synagogues were hit by gunfire in the span of one week last week. No one was obtuse enough to express “shock.” These acts are not shocking when one Toronto synagogue has been vandalized 10 times in 18 months. When swastikas were spray-painted on three Jewish-owned businesses in Montreal – and on a synagogue in Winnipeg, and two in...
The mandated review of the Access to Information Act, includes proposals from the government that are 'super regressive,' says veteran journalist Dean Beeby. 'It’s just bureaucrats running the show, and we’re all going to lose, because they’re not eager at all to open the system up and be transparent.'
Shock, frustration and dejection swept over New Democrats on Wednesday after MP Lori Idlout abandoned the party to join Mark Carney’s Liberals, putting them on the cusp of forming a majority government. The Nunavut MP’s defection, which came just weeks ahead of the selection of a new NDP leader, left party members stunned and in deep reflection about the New...
Alberta's chambers of commerce say talk of the province potentially quitting Confederation is bad for business, with one saying it's time Premier Danielle Smith's government move on from blaming former prime minister Justin Trudeau. The Alberta Chambers of Commerce says a recent survey of members and investors suggested more than half of participants say the provincial separation issue is affecting...
The Business Development Bank of Canada is increasing the funds available to entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of an anticipated boom in defence spending.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poileivre will travel to the United States this week to advocate for tariff-free trade for Canadian businesses and workers. “As I said in a recent speech, we need to leverage the relationship we have with the American people,” he said, in a video post on X, on Wednesday. “We should all be reaching out to American business...
EDMONTON -- The grand chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations says King Charles "expressed his concern" after hearing about Alberta's separatist push in a face-to-face meeting with Indigenous leaders on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to vacation in both the United Kingdom and Italy during March break, according to two sources. The prime minister will not fly home with the Canadian delegation that is scheduled to come back to Canada from Carney’s trip to Yellowknife, Norway and London on March 16, instead staying in Europe to vacation. Sources tell...
OTTAWA -- Global Affairs Canada says it's thinking about reopening its embassy in Venezuela, where it already has locals working on the ground in the capital Caracas.
OTTAWA -- MPs voted Wednesday to reject a bill that sought to close a loophole in Ottawa's weapons export regime that allows Washington to send Canadian arms to countries that would otherwise be blocked.
The federal government is earmarking $10 million to help Jewish communities bolster security at their gathering places after two Toronto-area synagogues were struck with gunfire. The money dispensed through the federal Canada Community Security Program is meant to help protect Jewish places of worship, schools, child care centres, overnight camps and other institutions. The program offers organizations at risk of...
Majorities shouldn't come from backroom deals in Ottawa, interim leader says. Interim NDP Leader Don Davies said Prime Minister Mark Carney was working to overrule the wishes of voters in the pursuit of a majority in the House of Commons on Wednesday. In a short scrum with journalists after Nunavut MP Lori Idlout quit his party, Davies said Canadians still...
Canada's housing agency says the country made "meaningful" supply gains last year thanks to record rental construction and more "missing middle" type housing, however short-term imbalances remain for several markets. Housing construction rose six per cent year-over-year in 2025 to 259,000 units, with activity exceeding the 10-year average across most major markets, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s spring...
Smiling broadly, Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed MP Lori Idlout to the Liberal caucus on Wednesday after convincing yet another opposition member to defect to the governing party — a political coup that brings him one step closer to a majority government. Speaking briefly to reporters on Parliament Hill with Idlout by his side, Carney said the former New Democrat...
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout said Wednesday feedback from constituents calling on her to join the Liberal government ultimately convinced her to cross the floor.
Canadian border officials are concerned that “industry pressure” is slowing efforts to stop powerful animal tranquillizers from moving through the illegal drug supply. Criminal organizations are increasingly mixing veterinary sedatives like xylazine, also known as “tranq” or “zombie drug,” into fentanyl to prolong the opioids’ effects and increase value. But drug users often don’t know they’re taking these tranquillizers, which...
The Liberal government is one step closer to forming a majority as another opposition MP has decided to join its ranks. Former NDP MP for Nunavut Lori Idlout was accompanied into her first Liberal caucus meeting by Prime Minister Mark Carney who praised his new recruit as one of “Canada’s greatest constituency MPs.” Noting that she represents a riding the...
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says the threat level in Canada from Iran or its proxies has not changed since the war in Iran began nearly two weeks ago, while adding that threat-related activities are “likely to continue.” “The level remains at ‘Medium,’ meaning that a violent extremist attack remains a realistic possibility,” a CSIS spokesperson said in a...
The Conservative leader’s first international trip last week marked a major shift in his attempts to present himself as a prime minister-in-waiting and promote his brand of free-market “stoicism” to Canada’s allies in Europe, say strategists, who note that whether it signals a messaging pivot or a return to philosophical form, how it’s received by a domestic audience is the...
MPs will vote Wednesday afternoon on whether to advance a bill that would close a loophole in Ottawa's weapons export regime that allows Washington to send Canadian arms to countries that would otherwise be blocked. "We are living within a lie with our arms exports," NDP MP Jenny Kwan told a Tuesday press conference. Kwan tabled a private member's bill...
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout's decision to cross the floor from the NDP to the Liberals puts Prime Minister Mark Carney's government at 170 seats -- two short of a majority -- with three byelections still to come on April 13. Idlout said in a media statement that she decided to cross the floor after receiving feedback from constituents and her family.
Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout will cross the floor to join the Liberals, inching Mark Carney’s Liberals closer to a majority government. In a statement late Tuesday night, NDP interim leader Don Davies announced Idlout’s defection from the party, saying he was “very disappointed” she had decided to join the Liberal caucus. “The position of the New Democrats on floor...
The Conservatives are proposing a private member’s bill to enable Canada Post to ship alcohol directly to consumers across the country – an idea that Internal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he is open to. MP Dan Albas, who represents the British Columbia riding of Okanagan Lake West–South Kelowna, tabled Bill C-262 on Monday. If passed, the bill would amend...
Prime Minister Mark Carney told MPs in the House of Commons Tuesday that Canada is not involved in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and "will never participate in it." The prime minister changed his schedule to attend Tuesday's question period after being criticized for not answering to parliamentarians about Canada's position on the war in Iran. Carney was asked few...
Vote would mark first time some in caucus split from government line under Carney. When the NDP's arms-control bill that seeks to end largely permit-free Canadian military exports to the U.S. is put to a vote on Wednesday, it could garner the support of more than a dozen Liberal MPs. That would be the first time some in the Liberal...
Former CBC television reporter and anchor Travis Dhanraj told a House of Commons committee today that the public broadcaster "silenced and intimidated" him. When Dhanraj, who hosted "Canada Tonight," announced his departure in an email to CBC staff in 2025 he called out what he claimed was a culture of "retaliation, exclusion and psychological harm."
Vancouver City Coun. Sean Orr is suing Mayor Ken Sim for defamation after he accused Orr of distributing illegal drugs, comments the councillor said were made for political gain. The lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court says Sim acted "deliberately, maliciously and in bad faith" when he told Chinese-language reporters on Feb. 6 that Orr had handed out drugs on...
A Manitoba politician has announced he is leaving the Progressive Conservative caucus and will sit as an Independent. Bob Lagasse has represented the Dawson Trail constituency east of Winnipeg since 2016. He rose in the legislature today and said he intends to sit as an Independent and run for re-election as an Independent in the next general election. He says...
U.S. President Donald Trump referred to Prime Minister Mark Carney as the “future Governor of Canada” in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. Trump’s post was in reference to working with other U.S. governors to “save The Great Lakes from the rather violent and destructive Asian Carp.”
Canada’s political landscape is settling into a clearer hierarchy. The latest Nanos tracking shows the Liberals consolidating their advantage, stretching their national ballot lead well into double digits over the Conservatives. What was once competitive has become asymmetrical. The gap is reinforced by leadership preference, where Mark Carney commands a striking margin over Pierre Poilievre, reaching a new high and...
Police say they will investigate any possible terrorism links as they search for two suspects who fired shots at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto early Tuesday morning. Speaking to reporters outside the University Avenue building on Tuesday, Toronto Police Deputy Chief Frank Barredo said officers were first notified of the shooting at around 5:30 a.m., about an hour after the...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate passed a broad bill on Thursday to make U.S. housing more accessible and affordable, a rare bipartisan effort in Congress to address a growing national problem.
BOSTON (AP) -- A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they aren't considering race in admissions.
MIAMI (AP) -- Voting technology firm Smartmatic is seeking to dismiss a criminal indictment for money laundering, blaming President Donald Trump and his allies for seeking its prosecution as part of a "campaign of retribution" against those they blame for his 2020 election loss.
PHOENIX (AP) -- The Republican leader of Arizona's state Senate said Monday he has handed over records related to the 2020 presidential election to the FBI in the latest sign that the Trump administration is acting on the president's longstanding falsehoods about a race he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
DND says country placed 'caveat' on U.S. intelligence-sharing for small-boat strikes. The Department of National Defence says it has safeguards in place to prevent intelligence from being shared with elements of the U.S. military that have carried out numerous lethal strikes on small boats in the Caribbean. In a statement to CBC News, the department said that intelligence gathered during...
Oil prices continued to soar on Monday as the Iran war intensified, threatening production and shipping in the Middle East and pummeling financial markets. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, surged to as high $119.50 per barrel early in the day but later was trading above $101 per barrel, up 9%. West Texas Intermediate, the...
The Canadian government will face questions about its “confusing” stance on the Iran war when the House of Commons hosts a debate on the conflict tonight, according to former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy. “It’s still not clear about where Canada stands on the fundamental issue of the rule of law, which says aggression is an international crime,” Axworthy told...
Saudi Arabia sharpened its warnings to Iran early Monday, telling Tehran it would be the "biggest loser" if it continues to attack Arab states. The Saudi statement came after a new drone attack apparently targeted its massive Shaybah oil field. The kingdom dismissed comments by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday that Iran had halted its attacks on Gulf Arab...
The United States and Israel do not have a "blank cheque" in their bombing campaign in Iran, and are still bound by international law, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on Friday, as the war in the Middle East approaches the seven-day mark.
Canada is confronting a rapidly expanding illicit nicotine market that has evolved well beyond traditional contraband tobacco. Criminal networks that once focused on cigarettes now traffic in high-nicotine disposable vapes, unauthorized nicotine pouches, and a sprawling ecosystem of online black market platforms. Fragmented regulation, uneven enforcement, and the rise of e-commerce have created structural vulnerabilities that illicit actors are exploiting...
War in energy-producing regions often reveals the hidden architecture of globalization. The ongoing US-Iran conflict is doing precisely that. Disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has begun transforming energy trade into “risk trade,” where freight insurance, shipping routes, and geopolitical exposure can become as decisive as underlying supply. For China and other Asia-Pacific importers, this shift has two strategic implications...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
For a moment there, it looked like Mark Carney would be the torchbearer for countries opposed to Trump’s big power politics. Now, not so much. In fact, it seems Prime Minister Carney is ready to embrace the “end of the international rules-based order” rather than oppose it – thanks to the confusing and contradictory statements by the Canadian government following...
On Thursday, the Liberal government finally got around to asking ordinary Canadians how to fix the country’s premier transparency law, the Access to Information Act. The Act, dating from 1983, empowers citizens to hold governments to account through requests for internal information.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was a monster. For close to thirty years, he presided over a police state that violated human rights at home and exported terror to the world. Now he is dead, crushed by the American assault on Iran that flattened his compound and sparked a regional war. From Tehran to Toronto, thousands of Iranians are celebrating...
Co-hosts Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric talk through the latest floor crosser, Lori Idlout, who abandoned Canada's progressive party this week to join the Liberals. Nick reflects on his recent trip to Washington and his conversation with U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer. Plus, Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar joins for the 200-second interview.
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout crossed the floor this week, becoming the first New Democrat to defect to Prime Minister Carney’s Liberals. With three byelections coming up next month, this puts the Carney Government on a likely path to a majority. It also adds to the troubles facing the NDP, who are in the middle of a leadership race following their...
Alright, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites, The Chiefs join us today. They’re a regular feature on the pod now, showing up every couple of months to bestow a little governance wisdom upon us … 3 former Chiefs of Staff to some of Canada’s most accomplished heads of government: Brian Topp, Tim Murphy, and Ian Brodie. Alright, so today we’re...
Monday night was debate night in Ottawa about the country's position on the Iran War. The Conservatives called for the debate but it was the Liberals who have had some disagreement on what the country's position should be. Rob Russo and Althia Raj talk about that and lots more in this week's Reporter's Notebook.
